Turkey Tortilla Soup, warm up those leftovers in a fresh new way!!!

• 3  6 inches corn tortillas, cut in strips

• 2  tablespoons cooking oil

• 1  cup purchased red or green salsa

• 2  14 ounce can reduced sodium chicken broth

• 2  cups cubed cooked turkey (12 ounces)

• 1  large zucchini, coarsely chopped

• Lime wedges (optional)

• Sour cream and cilantro (optional)

• 1. In a large skillet cook tortilla strips in hot oil until crisp; remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper toweling.

• 2. In a large saucepan combine salsa and chicken broth; bring to boiling over medium-high heat. Add turkey and zucchini; heat through. Serve in bowls topped with tortilla strips, lime wedges, and cilantro. Makes 4 servings.

• Servings Per Recipe 4, Calories 262, Protein (gm) 26, Carbohydrate (gm) 16, Fat, total (gm) 11, Cholesterol (mg) 53, Saturated fat (gm) 2, Monosaturated fat (gm) 2, Polyunsaturated fat (gm) 6, Dietary Fiber, total (gm) 3, Sugar, total (gm) 4, Vitamin A (IU) 292, Vitamin C (mg) 12, Thiamin (mg) 0, Riboflavin (mg) 0, Niacin (mg) 6, Pyridoxine (Vit. B6) (mg) 1, Folate (µg) 28, Cobalamin (Vit. B12) (µg) 0, Sodium (mg) 920, Potassium (mg) 606, Calcium (DV %) 61, Iron (DV %) 2, Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

by Natalie Digate Muth, MD, MPH, RD

With Thanksgiving Day right around the corner, you may have begun considering what you’re going to contribute to the feast. As we all know, the day is famous for its indulgences and, for many, an annual ritual to overeat and then lounge lazily for the rest of the day watching football games, napping, and spending time with family and friends.

This holiday is a little bit of a challenge for highly health conscious individuals. After all, if you show up to the feast with a dressing-free salad and whole wheat dry rolls, you might be turned away at the door. And, honestly, a once-per-year day of overeating most likely isn’t going to sabotage your diet plans, though sustaining this eating behavior throughout the holiday season could lead to a few extra unwanted pounds to lose in the New Year.

The good news is that there are some simple changes you can make to your Thanksgiving plans this year that will save you some calories (without sacrificing taste or your reputation) and add some fun to your holiday.

1. Fit it all on one plate. Prevent over-stuffing yourself by fitting your Thanksgiving feast all on one plate (This works best if you don’t use an oversized plate filled to the brim). Sample small portions and avoid going back for seconds. If you’re tempted to return for more, give yourself 20 minutes (about how long it takes to feel full) first.

2. Eat slowly. Thanksgiving foods are likely to be richer and more filling than your everyday fare, so eat slowly and savor every bite.

3. Enjoy the company of family and friends. Socialize during your meal and festivities. You can’t eat and talk at the same time — so the more conversation you enjoy, the less you’ll eat.

4. Get moving. Sign up for a local Turkey Trot 5K or 10K and spend your Thanksgiving morning getting some exercise. Not only will you burn some calories, but you’ll also enjoy some holiday fun!

5. Make some easy Turkey day substitutions. For example:

◦Eat the white meat without the skin instead of the dark meat with skin and shave off 190 calories. 

Turkey — white meat, no skin (6oz): 180 calories, 3g fat 
Turkey – dark meat, with skin (6oz): 370 calories, 20g fat

◦Make your own cranberries rather than the jellied stuff and save 120 calories. 

Cranberries (boiled in sugar) (1/2 cup): 100 calories, <1g fat 
Jellied cranberry sauce (1/2 cup): 220 calories, <1g fat

◦Cut the marshmallows on your sweet potatoes and instead add a little bit of spice to save 100 calories. 

Sweet potatoes, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg (2/3c): 200 calories, 3g fat
Candied sweet potatoes with marshmallows (2/3c): 300 calories, 3g fat

◦Skip the green bean casserole and instead just steam some green beans and cut 110 calories. 

Steamed green beans (1/2C): 20 calories, <1g fat 
Green bean casserole (1/2C): 130 calories, 7 g fat

◦Choose pumpkin pie over the pecan pie for dessert and decrease your caloric intake by 160 calories. 

Pumpkin pie (1/8 pie): 340 calories, 15g fat 
Pecan pie (1/8 pie): 500 calories, 25g fat

◦Add it all up and you find that you’ve saved yourself 650 calories.
More Healthy Total: 850 calories, 23g fat 
Less Healthy Total: 1500 calories, 56g fat

There are 3,500 calories in a pound, so if you calculate the calorie savings from these substitutions, you will find that you saved yourself nearly ¼ pound weight gain! That’s not including the other four other tips above that will help you eat less and move more and save yourself from holiday weight gain.

“He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away.”  ~Raymond Hull

So have you ever reached that point where you know how to do something, and in order to do it right; the way you see it in your mind, you just have to say “Screw it, I’m going to have to do this alone so I can get it done the right way, my way.”

thats exactly the point Sal Abruscato reached around January 2009 when he embarked on creating “A Pale Horse Named Death”    A new band composed, written and recorded by Sal along with guitarist Matt Brown.  APHND was a no intentions, just pure dedication to ones creative nerve project that brings back heavy rock music they way it should be played!

Johnny Kelly, drummer for Seventh Void got us in touch with Sal and we managed to co-ordinate some time for a call to talk about his new album “And Hell will Follow Me”, which is just tearing it up on the scene today.  The album is filled with heavy, melodic trance, rock that just rolls from one song to the next, filled with intense drum beats and complex, tight guitar riffs. Finally an album you can set in your play list and enjoy all the tracks.

I know you guys are all familiar with Sal’s music, as the original drummer for Type O Negative and then for Life of Agony, Sal has been tearing it up on the heavy rock scene for years. There was a time when Sal just had to step away from music for a bit, the whole “trying to collaborate with others that had different visions” was clouding his mind. In 2008 Life of Agony had just come to realize that was pretty much it. Sal still struggling with wanting to get the music in his head out just decided to go for it. “Imagine your a painter and your doing your thing on canvas, but someone keeps tapping you on  the shoulder suggesting you should put this here, or change that, or use this color instead. It was making me crazy, I finally decided I was sick of people telling me what to do, or how to do something. I then just went for it, with no expectations, I was doing this for me.  This album is just as pure as it can be, a reflection of things I feel, or situations I’ve witnessed, experienced, things that happen in life that everyone can relate to, that maybe not everyone talks about”.  “It’s rock the way I like it, heavy, and dark”.  After composing each song and writing them Sal teamed up with guitarist Matt Brown and the 2  guys then recorded, engineered the entire album.  “It took balls for me to finally step away from the drum set to set out and play all the instruments, I had done some melody back-up vocals, but I knew I needed to be the one laying down the vox, I guess I reached that point in my life where I wanted to challenge myself and keep it genuine.”  Genuine is an accurate way to describe this album.  Sal and Matt had no goals with this album but were curios to see how people would react to it and it’s been full on ever since. SPV released the album in June 2011 and a tour was set up.  ‘Europe has always been a great place to tour with this genre of music, the fans are just so open to it.”    Sal told me the band has some North East tour dates coming up November and December and a 5 week tour of Europe coming in January. The Live line up consists of Sal on Vox and guitar, Matt Brown  of Seventh Void on Guitar, Bobby Hambel from Biohazard on Guitar, Johnny Kelly from Type O, and Seventh Void on Drums and Eric Morgan on Bass. Yeah, from that line up you can tell these live shows kick ass.  Sal told me that jammin’ with these guys is just awesome, the chemistry is there, nothing is forced and they find themselves just totally into it and having a killer time.

Touring these days is a little different for Sal, who says it’s not about sex, drugs and rock-n-roll anymore, “Well it’s always about rock-n-roll, but now at this age, it’s more about taking care of yourself, making sure you get enough sleep, don’t loose your voice and always worrying about making sure your family back home is ok and taken care of.”  When he is back home, he’s balancing some work to take care of the family and enjoying doing things around the house that need maintained. “I enjoy working with my hands, I got that from my father, who always showed me how to do things, he was a hands on kind of guy, and shared those lessons with me. I enjoy doing some fab work and even had a hand in a building a bobber out of a friends shop, Mayhem Cycles. That bike was featured in the book “Art of the Bobber” and took 2nd place at a 2006 Easyriders show in Ct., I eventually sold that bike to Bobby from Biohazard”

We spoke a little more about the new album and how humbly thrilled Sal is at the reception it’s getting. “People are digging in and it’s blowin’ me away, this project was something I did for myself and I’m genuinely happy at how well the fans have taken to it”   We also talked about the website which is totally interactive and very “today”.  Sal told me they even won some award from some computer geek magazine for how integrated it is.

All of us here at Cycle Source are diggin’ the album and really hoping the North East tour will have a stop that is close enough for us to make, I personally, defiantly need to see these guys live.  Check out the website and see if there will be any dates close to you, go see the show and go get the album, no doubt you will enjoy. www.apalehorsenameddeath.com